Exchange of views at the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) in association with the Delegation for relations with Belarus on the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk Belarus and the detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega. Opening statement by David MCALLISTER (EPP, DE), Chair of the AFET Committee, Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition and Michael SIEBERT, Managing Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, Regional cooperation and OSCE of the European External Action Service.This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Brussels

exchange of views

EU - Belarus (T)

McALLISTER, David (EPP, DE)

TSIKHANOUSKAYA, Sviatlana (BY)

Exchange of views on the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk Belarus in AFET Committee: opening and statement by Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, An exchange of views on the forced landing of the Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus, and the detention by Belarusian authorities of Mr. Protasiewicz and Sofia Suppiger. I decided to put this point on our agenda.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, Additionally, in response to the events which have all shocked us over the last few days, I would especially like to thank our colleagues, Sandra Kalniete, for the initiative and Andreas Kubilius for also making possible that we have a prominent guest speaker from Belarus attending our meeting today.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, I can be brief in my introductory remarks because you have all followed the events. This is an unprecedented and shocking event. But a flight from one EU member state, Greece, to another EU member state, Lithuania, with 171 passengers on board, was intercepted by a Belarussian military jet forced to land in Minsk after a false bomb alert. And soon after this for true reason for this, let me call it, a brazen act became apparent.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, And Belarusian authorities have arrested Raman and Sofia, who were travelling on that plane. The hijacking of a plane of a European airline flying between two EU capitals is a further shocking escalation by the Lukashenko regime. The International Civil Aviation Organisation should conduct a thorough investigation of all of this.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, Since we started the crackdown against the peaceful mass protests, the Lukashenko regime has forced many of its opponents into exile for fear of persecution. The brazen actions taken against air flight on Sunday show that the Belarusian democratic forces continue to face threats even when they are forced to live abroad.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, Therefore, I am pleased to welcome this morning on short notice. Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya the leader of the Democratic Forces of Belarus. Back to our committee.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, She experienced first hand the repression by Lukashenko, his henchmen, against those who dared to stand up against this brutal regime. I have invited her to make a statement regarding this incident that has shocked so many Belarusians and the broader international community.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, So, dear Svetlana, I will give you the floor first for a statement and then afterwards I will continue with giving the floor to the representatives of the European External Action Service.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, Thank you for inviting me to speak today, and I'm sure that you have all followed the news from my country. (..) .

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, I'm not sure if you can hear me or even see me. Unfortunately, there is a very bad connexion. In the meantime, because we are under, as always, time pressure, let us continue, I would now like to welcome Mr. Siebert, the managing director for Russia, the Eastern Partnership, Central Asia Regional Cooperation and OSCE of the European External Action Service.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, This is your first appearance before our committee since your appointment as managing director. Let me wish you success in this challenging post.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, I look forward to a close and constructive cooperation on the many important issues within your wide remit. I had the impression that you will often be guest in our committee. So thank you for agreeing to participate in today's meeting at a very, very short notice.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, We would like to hear from you, your assessment of the situation regarding the Belarussian actions against the Russian aeroplane and the arrest to discuss the next steps to be taken by the European Union and the 27 member states in response. So, Mr. Siebert the floor is now yours. A warm welcome to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, Good morning, Mr. President, members of Parliament, Mrs. Heinousness. I hope you can hear me well. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the very friendly welcome, I would have loved to be with you physically and I would like, above all, to talk with you in the context of more positive developments. And I'm sure you are right, Mr. Chairman, that we will meet much more often in the future.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, I'm also very pleased if she can hear me to that, Svetlana as been able to join us today. Mrs. Tsikhanovskaya, you have become the symbol of hope for a democratic Belarus.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, We closely follow your very courageous struggle for respect of basic human rights and for free and fair elections and democracy in Belarus. The work that you and your team undertake to share the truth about what's happening in your country is very important.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, And let me also express my deepest sympathy over the death of a political prisoner .... Mr. Lukashenko has gone too far, again, as clearly expressed by the European Council and by the international community.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, I am fully aware of all the work that the European Parliament has done to keep the situation in Belarus high on the agenda, and I welcome that you are doing it again today as AFET and its Human Rights Committee have done numerous times before.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, As I said, the regime has once again grossly overstepped red lines on Sunday, the interception of a civilian aeroplane from an EU country flying between two EU capitals, jeopardising the security of over 100 passengers and of the crew is a clear violation of international law. The subsequent arrest of a young journalist and activist, Roman Polanski, which end of the fears of Suppiger is an abhorrent act? The EU reacted firmly and quickly.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, You remember that the HR issued a strong declaration on behalf of all member states already on Monday morning. Monday evening, the European Council, the leaders of the 27 member states, issued a very strong issued very strong conclusions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, On this incident, calling, as you know, for an urgent investigation for additional sanctions. That means more listings and targeted economic sanctions and for all EU based carriers to avoid over overflights of Belarus.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, It also called for adopting the necessary measures to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and to prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by them. The implementation of all these decisions is going on with maximum speed.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, Let me put last Sunday's events in their political context. The human rights situation in Belarus has been constantly deteriorating since the fraudulent elections of last August, Belarusian authorities have chosen persecution and intimidation against their own citizens over dialogue.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, The inadmissable events of last Sunday clearly demonstrate that pressure on human rights defenders continues on a daily basis. Just to remember, Human Rights Centre now faces criminal charges. Authorities persecute lawyers working on politically motivated criminal and civil cases. Journalists and independent media workers are particularly targeted by the regime.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, They face criminal charges and imprisonment for simply doing their job. On 18 May of May, at least 15 outlet workers from the largest independent media outlet to be white were detained, adding another blow to independent media. And let me briefly recall the overall situation, by now, over 400 persons have been recognised as political prisoners. There have been over 35000 administrative incidents.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, People have been arrested or fined. Around 3000 criminal cases are open in connexion with anti-government protests since August 2020. There are over 4600 complaints about the use of physical force and over 1500 well-documented cases of torture and ill treatment in several peaceful protesters have been killed. There have been no investigations of these crimes committed by representatives of the authorities at all.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, Ladies and gentlemen, following the European Council on Monday, the president of the European Commission announced the plan for a three billion euro economic and investment package for a democratic Belarus. This plan represents a strong message of hope and support for the people of Belarus. Let me conclude.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, We have all followed the brutal repression following the falsified election in Belarus on the 9th of August 2020 with disgust, the scale of the human rights violation is violations is enormous. The illegal acts committed last Sunday are a blatant attack on international civilian aviation safety and a clear violation of international norms.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michael SIEBERT, Belarus will bear the consequences of these acts. The EU continues to stand by the Belarusian people. Its legitimate quest for freedom of expression and for democracy. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, Thank you, Mr. Siebert, for your words. I will now try to connect once again, Svetlana TSIKHANOUSKYA. Let's give it a try. We see you. Great. Go ahead.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, So I'll start from the beginning. Because I know that you had been badly so dear members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament and thank you for inviting me to speak today. And I'm sure that you have all followed the news from my country. But I will briefly summarise them. The developments in Belarus last week brought to Belarusians four distinct, groundbreaking developments.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, The elimination of torture by the most popular independent media outlet. The death of political prisoner Witold Ashlock is in unclear circumstances in custody regime's intention to postpone the next national vote by one and half years until the end of 2023.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, And finally, the regime scrambled a fighter jet to land a civilian Ryanair flight to arrest journalists. The last event has raised grave concerns all over the world and strong reactions from national capitals and international organisations.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, We have received political reactions and practical measures adopted in response to this incident that has violated fundamental safety norms of civil aviation. With Iran air flight incident, Lukashenko has crossed the line and became a threat to international peace and security.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, Has the reaction of the international community is justifiably strong and effective. But I would like to emphasise that Belarusians live in this atmosphere of lawlessness for more than nine months.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, Disrespect for human rights and freedom is the future of Lukashenko style. For decades, but since rigged elections of August 2020, the regime has completely lost the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. And let's be frank, the previous EU strategy of 'wait and see' towards the Belarusian regime doesn't work.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, The EU approach of gradually elevating pressure on Lukashenko s regime hasn't managed to change its behaviour and only led to a growing sense of impunity and massive repression. Now I call on the European Parliament to make sure that the reaction of the international community is not limited to the Ryanair flight incident.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, The response must address the situation in Belarus in its entirety, or we will all face such situations in the future as Lukashenko is turning my country into another area of Europe non-transparent, unpredictable and dangerous. Therefore, I call on the EU to firmly and publicly maintain the non-recognition policy of Lukashenko to initiate an International High-Level Political Conference outwardly.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, Sadly, we have lost your connexion again. I'm not sure if you can hear me or see me, but we can't hear you and we can't see you, unfortunately. Now you're back. Please continue.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, I repeat my calls on the European Union, just first of all, firmly and publicly maintained the non-recognition policy of Lukashenko.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, Second, to initiate an international high level political conference on the resolution of the crisis in Belarus to be held without delay. Then please launch a new comprehensive plan of support for a democratic Belarus.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, It should be done jointly by President von der Leyen and myself to send a clear message to Belarusians that Europe cares about the future of Belarus, then create Belarus friendship groups in national parliaments to stay engaged in the Belarusian agenda on a continuous basis.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, And last communicate in clear language to Russia and other states willing to abuse the weakness of Lukashenko, that any agreements or contracts signed with him will be reviewed and might be nullified.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, I call on the EU to deny any kind of financial support to governmental requests and refrain from all new foreign investments in Belarus. And new credit lines to Belarusian banks. Adopt without further delay the fourth package of sanctions and announce a start of the development of the fifth package.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, Impose a ban on imports from Belarus of oil products, fortyish fertilisers, metal products and wood and products from wood, and a refrain from all new foreign investments in Belarus and new credit lines to Belarus and banks.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA, representative of the Belarus opposition, And I call on the EU to enhance support for Belarusian civil society, at a contingency package to support Belarusian independent media and develop programmes to provide relief and drillbit rehabilitation to the repressed Belarusians and members of their families, our friends in Europe. Please hear me. It's time to act now. Thank you for your attention.

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), AFET Chair, Thank you, hank you for your clear messages at the end of your statement, and I think all colleagues have received and understood your points very clearly.